Dune Drifter

• Written and Directed by Marc Price
• October 24, 2020 (FrightFest) / November 3, 2020 (Leeds International Film Festival)

After a devastating battle, the survivor of a crashed ship must cross the landscape of a desolate world in order to save herself before her life support expires.

I first learned of this movie via X (formerly Twitter) from the page of Stargate legend Joseph Mallozzi. The classic shows he is connected to aside, the man is a genuine connoisseur of science fiction. I figured this might be worthy of viewing in some way-cheap or not.

And Dune Drifter is certainly cheap. This is a bargain basement science-fiction film with a reported budget of a mere $100,000. Doesn’t mean it’s bad. A massive or mid-tier budget does not equal quality or success. It is all in execution. And it starts with plenty of promise. Despite its low production values there is fine acting and the dialogue is solid.

I need to bring one thing up because it has bothered me since I was a kid when I saw it no matter what I watched. Jiggle of things that should be fixed. I’m just bothered how things jiggle in the ship cockpit we see whenever they’re pushing buttons or flipping switches. I don’t understand why it’s hard to secure down stuff on sets. It’s one of those things that has always taken me out of a movie or TV show no matter how good it is. Reportedly the ship scenes were filmed in a London flat so maybe the couch got in the way? But that is not all.

Another thing that really bothers me is the amount of condensation on the face plates of spacesuits. A little bit is acceptable but some of these people look like these plates were hit internally with a spray bottle. Being the type of individual I am I have read how other productions have conquered this issue in one way or another. When movies don’t it really bothers me because if you’re out in a hostile environment then being able to see clearly is important. But from a movie POV it makes seeing the actors act almost impossible.

Based on the title Dune Drifter I expected a Dune knock off much more in line with Planet Dune where certain elements of the Dune mythology were used in the cheapest and easiest way possible. The name of this film after all implies that yet what we ultimately get is a well-done survival yarn.

This doesn’t tread any new territory, but it walks a well-worn path in an entertaining way. Our main character of Adler (Phoebe Sparrow) is out of her element and uses the skills she has to survive. She’s not some overpowered fantasy, but rather a relatively realistically done individual that makes up for lack of physical prowess through her intelligence. 

There’s a ticking clock element in this as she’s running out of oxygen on the planet with a corrosive atmosphere so she has to venture into hostile territory in order to rescue herself. Somehow what amounts to a trek and beating up a handful of evil aliens works. There’s some good directing and the acting is better than I expected. Which is surprising since Adler is the only real individual that is developed as a character. Everyone else is this nameless and faceless alien that one would expect in a general science-fiction film. And that is important because Sparrow must largely carry the film herself as an actress and she does great. Sparrow creates a character that is unsure of herself but does not wallow in doubt. She steps up to the challenge. Reluctantly, but step up she does.

With one real character and a series of nameless baddies this was good. I expected entertainment but not on the level of quality that I got. The people behind this made a very good film. Not great but very good and they accomplish that by staying within what they could actually accomplish. They did not exceed resources. 

If you’re looking for some quality science fiction then Dune Drifter is for you. While done on the cheap it achieves quality that more expensive productions cannot. I recommend this one!